Our view: The nation's birth certificate

They were the cream of each colony, educated men rooted in classical studies, including philosophy.

They gathered in a steaming Philadelphia meeting house long before the invention of air-conditioning. Opening the windows invited a swarm of biting horseflies.

The Continental Congress finally gave the thought of independence its due when the respected public leader and eloquent orator, Richard Henry Lee, stood up on the floor of the building soon to be forever known as Independence Hall to speak on the resolution that had been approved by his state of Virginia.

The resolution that the "United Colonies," then locked in war with King George's armies, "ought to be, free and independent" was offered in June 1776.

When Lee offered the resolution to the Philadelphia gathering, it reflected an emerging mood in the colonies.

Hot-blooded John Adams, perhaps the strongest advocate for independence, was prescient when he described how the country would celebrate each year that moment the United States became the first nation to ever cast asunder its ties to its mother country.

"It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games and sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore."

But Adams missed by two days. He figured the country would mark its birthday on July 2, the date the resolution on independence was adopted.

Instead the nation celebrates on this day, July 4, the date the Continental Congress adopted the report of five committee members appointed to draft what is now known as the Declaration of Independence - Thomas Jefferson, the chairman; Benjamin Franklin; Roger Sherman; Adams and Robert Livingston.

Jefferson intended for the document to set out an argument so that all would understand the cause, part indictment against the king and part soaring rhetoric about the natural rights of man. Now, 238 years later, it is still displayed publicly every day in the rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, faded but still legible.

Jefferson as the primary author had to endure the tinkerings of his peers, including the striking of a powerful paragraph condemning slavery. But what survived after the Continental Congress was through still stirs the patriotic embers inside us. Imagine the effectiveness of those words in the days when the spirit of independence burned so brightly.

The spirit of the day will be on display this morning at Triangle Park in northern Monroe. Children will decorate their bicycles and wagons or riding toys in a patriotic manner and join the parade down Pargoud Boulevard.

Don't let the week pass you by without finding the joy in our nation's freedom. It's your duty.

And pause for just a moment and reflect on the closing line of Jefferson's masterpiece, remembering the great men in Philadelphia were flesh and blood committing treason in the eyes of England: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

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Our view: The nation's birth certificate

They were the cream of each colony, educated men rooted in classical studies, including philosophy.